My heart rate spiked. “I’ve thought of that, too.”
I heard the bed squeak as he shifted. “There’s one thing I’d like to do before I die, Lorelei.”
My heart was practically in my throat. “What?” I breathed.
“I absolutely must smell a puppy’s breath today before we head out.”
His statement was so unexpected that a full-body laugh shook me. I tried to stop, but I couldn’t. It was just so ridiculous—a dark, scary Ethereum lord insisting he wanted to smell a puppy.
It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself. I hadn’t laughed like that since I was a kid. Zane was funny. I loved that about him.
“Well, in that case,” I said, sitting up and swinging my legs off the side of the bed, “we’d better get dressed because I think if we head out now, we might have time to fit puppy-smelling into our itinerary.”
An hour later, after a rushed breakfast of boiled eggs and fruit, Zane and I tracked down a litter of four puppies with help from Adler. Madame Georgette opened her sitting parlor for us early, and when we entered, the cute little balls of fur yipped and yapped at our feet.
“Just born last month,” she told us. “Still on the teat, but they should be ready to take home in a few weeks. You can pick them up and play with them if you want.” With that, she excused herself and retreated somewhere else in her home.
Zane glanced at me, then picked up one of the black-and-white spotted puppies. “Moment of truth, Lorelei. This better be life-changing.”
I grinned, amazed that on a journey to save our dying worlds, Zane had found time to do something I loved.
I reached down and picked up an adorable little female. She wiggled in my grasp, trying to gnaw on my fingers. “Her fur is so soft,” I said, my cheeks starting to ache from all the smiling this morning.
Zane lifted his puppy up to his nose, and it licked him, catching him off guard. He reeled back and looked at me with wide eyes. “Its breath. It’s sweet.”
I nodded, my grin feeling permanent at this point. “Mother’s milk.”
I snuggled my puppy, nuzzling my nose into her neck and feeling, for a moment, like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders.
“Do you have dogs?” he asked.
I shook my head. “My mother doesn’t like them.”
Zane nodded thoughtfully. “But if it were up to you, would you have one?”
I laughed. “I’d probably have five. Some chickens and goats, too.”
Zane rubbed the puppy’s back as it tried to bite his shirt collar. “Me too.”
Madame Georgette returned to the room, and Zane handed the puppy to her. “Can I prepay and pick them up when they’re weaned?”
My mouth popped open in surprise.
“Of course you can, sir. Do you want them both?”
Zane glanced at me and nodded.
I was in shock.
After he paid her, we walked back outside to where we’d left our horses.
I peered over at him, no doubt a look of awe and disbelief on my face. “Zane, did you just buy me a puppy?”
He looked down at me and nodded. “Only if you want her. Otherwise, Nellie won’t mind having two, I’m sure.”
He’d bought the other for Nellie?
I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. It scared me because the heartbreaking truth was that I was falling for Zane—falling hard and fast for a man I would never be able to make mine.
